


Unstoppable Addiction

by WinterAngel24



Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-26
Updated: 2014-02-24
Packaged: 2017-12-27 16:16:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/981003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterAngel24/pseuds/WinterAngel24
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Welcome to the family!" BAM! ... "You know, this is the second time she's slammed the door in our faces." Apathy doesn't even begin to cover it, but it's not like she doesn't care at all is it? What is really behind that blank and bored face?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Has Fresh Starts

"Welcome dear beautiful princess!"

BAM!

A sigh. "Nothing good comes out of being directionally challenged, does it?"

The door swung open again.

"Come now!" The same strange blond from before proclaimed. "Don't be shy! We always welcome newcomers to our humble club."

A slow blink was given before the figure sighed again and started to walk away. "Don't talk to idiots or they'll get the wrong idea. I just need to walk away and see if I can find someone with a brain to help me out." The figure muttered to herself. "Dang. After all, only  _I_  would wind up walking into a room full of weirdos. Honestly, who dresses like that? Although, that girl didn't look like she wanted to be there. Then again, she was probably forced to dress like that against her will, and like a boy at that. What a weird place."

Suddenly the girl found herself trapped between two bodies and dragged back to the room she had intended to avoid like the plague.

"You know...This could be considered a form of kidnapping," the girl informed the group of boys standing in front of her.

"This will only take a minute," a tall dark haired man with glasses said soothingly.

"Yes! We just want to make sure you understand how manly Haruhi really is!" The blond said with an annoyingly tone that spoke that he was  _obviously_  lying in a painful sort of way.

The girl sighed once again. "This is now one of the many reasons I don't want to stay in Japan. How bothersome. Whatever. This isn't my problem nor my business. I don't intend to say anything to anyone if that's what you're worried about. After all, it would just cause me even more problems. So can I go, scary glasses man and company?"

The group of males blinked in shock, Haruhi-...not so much.

"How strange," Tweedle-dee (as the girl had started calling them in her mind) muttered.

Tweedle-dum nodded in agreement. "You're not a very normal girl are you? Or are you a girl at all?"

"Oh dear! My x chromosomes must have been lying to me all these years!" The girl replied in an even more of a flat monotone, placing her hands on either side of her face in sarcastic shock. "Geez. A third grader could have come up with a better insult. I should know, considering my niece is a terrible terror."

The only other female in the room sighed and stepped forward. "Don't mind them. They just like to mess with people. Personally, I don't really mind if you know that I'm a girl or not. It's not like it matters."

"It does if you ever hope to pay off your debt," the scary glasses male said.

"Oh? This is what they call blackmailing, right?" The unnamed girl inquired outloud. "How interesting to see it in effect."

The bespeckled character readjusted his glasses, causing them to flash in a menacing light. "I wouldn't call it blackmailing as much as persuasion."

The girl shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat scary glasses man. Can I go now? I still have to find my way back to the front entrance before the crazy lady sends a search team."

"It sounds like you just transferred in," Tweedle-dee commented. "Although, that should explain the clothes. So..."

"What are you doing here in the first place?" Tweedle-dum picked up. "Are you a commoner with a scholarship like Haruhi?"

The new girl blinked slowly. "Hmmmm? Scholarship? Commoner?...Japan really is a strange place. I didn't think people actually spoke like that in real life...Huh."

"If you're not from Japan, where did you come from?" The short blond boy asked with a tilt of his head and a hug for his bunny.

"Me?" The girl pointed to herself, her features remaining apathetic and uncaring. "I'm from the States."

"Your dialect is very good for someone not raised here," the glasses male commented. "Perhaps you are of half Japanese descent?"

"Aaaahh, not quite." The girl yawned in boredom. "I'm a quarter French, a quarter Chinese, a quarter Japanese, and a quarter Philippine."

"Then perhaps, dear princess, one of your parents taught you growing up?" The leader of the group asked.

"Aah. Nope." The girl answered in English so that she could end her last word with a pop, then switching back to Japanese to continue. "I grew up speaking American English. I picked up a little Japanese when I met a foreign exchange student a few months ago and then picked up the rest when I met the crazy lady. Hey, can I at least know your names so that I'm not just calling you guys: scary glasses man, Tweedle-dee, Tweedle-dum, brother bear, idiot blond, and child-like blond?"

"My apologies dear maiden!" The leader exclaimed dramatically. "My name is Suoh Tamaki! president of this Host Club!"

"So idiot blond who speaks with exclamation points," the girl reiterated in her own way.

"My name is Ootori Kyoya, the vice president and financial manager."

"...Still scary glasses man."

"I'm Huninozuka Mitsukuni! And this is Usa-chan and my cousin, Morinozuka Takashi! But you can call me Honey and Takashi, Mori!"

"I'm going to have to think about what would be an easier way to remember you two."

"Well, you already sort of know my name, but I'm Fujioka Haruhi. It's nice to meet you."

"Pleasure, normal person."

"We're Kaoru and Hikaru Hitachiin!"

"Hm. As one entity, you would be the Cheshire cat. But I think I'll stick with Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum."

"What's the point of asking for our names if you're not going to bother referring to us by them?" Tweedle-dum demanded.

"For future reference," the girl stated evenly. "I guess it would be polite if I introduced myself, huh? Well, I'm Ricks Peyton. Whelp. It's been a slice. But I've got to get going now. Adiós amigos."

"Hold on one moment," Kyoya called out, halting the girl. "Do we have your word that you won't be saying anything about Haruhi or her situation."

"Sure. Not like it affects me in any matter," Peyton told the group. "See you again never. Now, I have to go meet the rest of my new family."

The host club watched the girl walk out the room with her hands laced together behind her head.

"What a strange person," Kaoru commented.

Hikaru snorted. "Yeah. The way she didn't react to anything or sound so dull is so boring. She's more like one of the characters you see in some anime rather than a real person. I don't think I've ever met anyone with such a bland personality."

"Still, I wonder what she meant by 'new family'," the more open of the two brothers wondered out loud. "Do you know Kyoya-senpai?"

Once again, the male pushed his glasses up, already looking up the information available on the girl on his laptop. He frowned and paused. "It seems that her information hasn't been added into the student profiles yet. I'll see what I can dig up," he told the group as girls started to pour into the room.

xXx

Kyoya sighed silently as his vehicle pulled up to his home. He was unsuccessful at finding any information about the girl during his time in the club. But after the family meeting he had been called to, he would have as much time as he wanted to look into the new girl.

The door opened just as he reached the entrance and the boy stepped inside, his gaze immediately fell on the three standing in the foyer.

"Ara? It's the scary glasses man."


	2. Has Akward Re-Introductions

Kyoya blinked not once, but  _twice_  before gathering his thoughts and turning his attention toward the other two people standing before him. He bowed his head slightly in respect. "Father, Fuyumi. It's good to see you again Ricks-san."

The older female giggled. "Peyton-chan isn't a Ricks anymore Kyoya."

"Is that so," Kyoya replied evenly, even as his curiosity clawed at him and his pride stung from not knowing more beforehand.

The Ootori patriarch smirked. "Kyoya, from today on, I expect you to look after Peyton, seeing as she is your younger sister."

The young male did not reply, trying to grasp what his father was saying. Did he mean only what he said, or did he have some greater plan involving the girl.

Fuyumi giggled again. "Father has adopted Peyton-chan, Kyo!"

"And I expect a lot from you," the head of the house directed toward the younger girl.

Payton sighed and scratched the back of her head. "This is why I said it was fine to leave me as I was. I don't have anything to offer you scary mister."

The adult only smirked once more. "We'll see." With that he turned and walked away.

Kyoya waited until his father was out of hearing range to speak once more. "What is the meaning of this Fuyumi."

"Even though I would love to tell you what happened while my husband and I were in America, I actually do have to leave." The older sister smiled and gasped the younger female's hands. "Now Peyton-chan, this is Kyoya, my little brother and your new nii-san. You'll meet your other nii-sans later. But now you can call me nee-chan! And be sure to remember! I'll be sure to visit often!"

"Please don't," the other girl interrupted bluntly.

However Fuyumi ignored the other and waved toward the two teenagers as she walked out. "Bye-bye now!"

Peyton sighed again. "Well damn. This is what I get for helping strangers. Being a good samaritan has only led to me being spirited away to another country and legally chained to a suspicious family. I'll never help anyone ever again. Lesson learner."

Kyoya observed the girl quietly as she muttered to herself. Despite her words, it didn't seem like she really cared that much. Or, perhaps she was just using such a bored expression as a mask?

"Ne, ne. Scary glasses man," the raven with pink eyes called out lazily, bending over slightly, but tilting her head up so that she could see the other. "You don't happen to know how to get me out of this do you? These weird people convinced the court judge that I wanted to go with them, but I didn't really care to come to Japan in my lifetime. But the crazy lady said that you were really smart, so I thought maybe you would be able to convince them to send me back. After all, the scary mister looks like he's treating this adoption thing as a form of legal slavery."

"You are an odd one, aren't you?" Kyoya finally commented. "So how did you come into contact with my sister?"

Peyton straightened with a sigh and laced her fingers behind her head as she looked up in thought. "Beats me. I was really in the wrong place at the wrong time...Just to let you know, I don't think I'll be calling you nii-san or whatever. Then again, it might cause me more trouble if I don't..." The girl sighed again. "What a pain. Oi, can you show me around? I mean, I doubt I'll pay attention enough to remember, but just in case..."

"As you wish," the boy replied with his coy host smile.

The girl paused to stare at him blankly. "Hey, scary glasses man, you shouldn't smile like that. It's insincere and makes you even more scary looking."

"Fair enough," the teenage boy smirked. It wasn't very often that people saw through that smile. It was probably only the members of the host club that  _really_  could. He gestured down the hall. "This way if you please..."

xXx

"Class," the teacher addressed the students, "today we have a new student. Please come in and introduce yourself."

The twins and Haruhi shared a curious look before turning back toward the opening doo.

"Wow, I didn't think kids really how to do that. It kind of makes you feel bad for the ones that hate attention," the girl from the day before commented more to herself than anyone else as she walked in. "Well, I'm Ricks- Oops. Sorry. I guess I'm supposed to say Ootori now, huh?"

The twins, and even Haruhi, almost fell out of their seats in shock. The identical boys openly gaped at the girl, who was tapping her chin in thought, trying to figure out if she was really telling the truth.

The girl shrugged. "Well, in any case, the name on my form is Ootori Peyton. Um, I'm supposed to say please take care of me, right? Though, I would rather you just forget about me. Otherwise, this could turn out to be even more of a pain."

The teacher sweat dropped. Why in the world would the  _Ootori's_  take in such a rude street rat was beyond her, but she let if go for now. She would save her gossip for break time when she could speak to the other female staff members. "Does anyone have any questions for Ootori-chan."

"Wow, that sounded worse than when I thought about it in my head," Peyton stated bluntly.

The teacher's brow twitched, but she dutifully ignored the girl's comment and nodded toward one of the many students raising their hands.

"Are you really an Ootori?"

"Not by blood."

"So you were adopted?"

"So you have to breathe?"

"How did you get to know the Ootori's enough for them to want to take you in?"

"I didn't. I tried to run away from them."

"So where were you from originally?"

"Somewhere in North America."

"You're from Canada?!"

"Wow. Didn't think that would be the assumption."

"Then what part of the USA did you live?"

"Yes."

"That doesn't answer the question."

"It wasn't a question worth answering."

"What blood type are you?"

"...You mean Japanese people actually know and ask that stuff? I thought was just just in those animes my classmates read."

"So what is it?"

"What's what?"

"Your blood type."

"Well, there's a letter. Maybe even two."

"Are you single?"

"Well my body didn't split off into another person the last time I checked this morning."

"So...no relationships?"

"I have a family, don't I?"

"We mean a boyfriend."

"I have a few friends who are male."

"But you're not dating anyone?"

"Is that supposed to be modern day stoning?"

"So there's no particular male you may end up marrying in the future?"

"Well if that whole red string nonsense is true, then I'm guessing that there's one out there."

"What's your sign?"

"It's red and is says: Stop."

The teacher, knowing that this could continue for quite some time, decided that this was a good time to cut in. "That's enough. All of you can ask Ootori-chan your other questions during break. Please go sit by, er, Hikaru-kun."

"Eeeeh? But teach', Hikaru is seated by the window," Peyton pointed out. "Does that mean you're telling me to sit outside?"

The class as a whole blinked in surprise.

"Then again, I guess it would be common sense to know that you mean the younger twin, huh?" The girl looked up toward the ceiling like she was thinking and tapped her chin with her index finger. She shrugged and headed off toward the empty seat. "Whatever, Tweedle-dee it is then."

Kaoru watched silently and curiously as the new girl came over and sat down next to him. How did she know that he was really, Kaoru and not Hikaru? A guess? "How did you know?"

The girl glanced over from the corner of her eyes. "Am I not allowed to know?"

"Well, no, but-" The younger twin fumbled for words for a moment before shaking his head and turning toward the already talking teacher.

Peyton watched the other drop the subject and turn away from her, contemplating whether or not it would be a nuisance to just tell the boys. However, it seemed like a bother, so she dropped the subject as well.

xXx

"How did you know?" Hikaru demanded immediately after class ended for lunch, slamming his hands down onto the girl's desk.

"Well, after you do the derivative of-" Peyton started to explain, only to be rudely interrupted.

"Not that! How did you figure out which of us was me and Kaoru?"

"I'm starting to feel like knowing the correct answer is taboo and will only cause me more problems, so I'm just going to say I guessed." The girl picked up her bag and scooted away from her desk with full intentions of leaving the subject as it was in favor of lunch.

However, her hopes were dashed as the twins followed her out of the room, dragging poor Haruhi along.

"But that implies that you didn't guess," Tweedle-dee pointed out.

"Then whatever higher entity you believe in told me so," the girl said blandly.

"You don't sound convincing at all," Tweedle-dum scoffed.

"Is that so? Ah." The girl stopped walking abruptly.

"What's wrong?" Haruhi asked kindly. "Did you forget something in the classroom?"

Peyton shook her head. "No. I think scary glasses man told me something yesterday, but I stopped listening. Well, the fact that I don't know where I'm going is a bigger problem right now."

'She wasn't paying attention to the Shadow King when he was talking?' The three first years couldn't help but explain within the safety of their minds.

"Hm, where are we right now?"

The two noys came back to their senses to see that they had wandered off into some odd end of the school.

"Hey, if you didn't know where you were going, then why didn't you just ask?" Hikaru whined.

"Well, Tweedle-dum, why didn't you go off in the correct direction rather than following me blindly," Peyton shot back easily. "That's what Fujioka did in any case."

The two boys looked around, finally noticing that they were missing one person.

"Come on, let's grab lunch and then go to the club room. I want to ask Kyoya-senpai what's going on." Hikaru grabbed on of the girl's arms, his brother following through on the other side, and they dragged her off in the right direction.

"Hey…Hey!" Peyton called out only slightly louder when she didn't get a response the first time.

Tweedle-dum glanced down at the girl. "What!"

"If you guys keep dragging me backwards everywhere, then I'm going to have to walk backwards to know where I'm going," the girl informed the two. "Not to mention, going anywhere with your strange group from yesterday is sure to cause me trouble. You know, that thing I've been saying that I wanted to avoid."

"What, don't tell me you're shy," Hikaru responded coyly, moving his arm from her arm to around her shoulders. "Come now, we just want to be good classmates and help show you around a bit."

"That's right," Kaoru responded in kind, moving his arm to her waist. "After all, what type of hosts would we be if we didn't help out the new student?"

"A normal unconcerned one." The girl sighed. "Why are the Japanese to touchy-feely? Don't you guys have any sense of personal space."

"Hika-chan! Kao-chan! There you are!" Honey bounded up cheerfully toward the twins with his cousin in tow. "Oh, good! You found Ten-chan too!"

Peyton blinked slowly as the name registered through her brain. "Ara? Ten-chan? Who is that?"

Mitsukuni giggled. "That's you silly! Now come on! Kyo-chan has been looking all over for you, he said there's a club meeting."

"Whelp, this is where I can finally take my leave," the raven shrugged away from the twins. "Ciao. Eh?" The girl's attempt to leave was halted when she was thrown up onto Mori's shoulder.

Honey laughed again and hopped up onto the available side. "Kyo-kun wants you to come too, Ten-chan!"

"This...is going to be bothersome, isn't it." Peyton sighed and resigned herself to being carried off.

The five walked into the clubroom to see a slightly ruffled Haruhi being dragged around by Tamaki, while Kyoya stood off to the side.

"Finally," the dark haired man said aloud. "I thought I told you to come here during lunch period yesterday."

"Well, I was sure that you noticed that I stopped listening the moment you started talking," Peyton said blandly after she had been lowered to the ground. "Did I say that I didn't want to be involved with anything tiresome while I'm stuck here?"

Kyoya sighed. "My apologies, but as your position stands now, I am the one who has been asked to look after you."

"Kyoya, what exactly  _is_  going on?" Tamaki butted in.

"Legally as of yesterday, Peyton has become a member of the Ootori family," Kyoya explained. "However, I lack the full details as to how this could have occurred."

"Hey, I'm the victim in all of this and  _I_  lack all the information." The cherry-blossom eyed girl looked around lazily. "Really, I didn't think the Japanese could be so impulsive. But, perhaps it was just the crazy lady. Then again, when she smiled at me like that the first time, I suppose that's what you would call an 'omen'...Well, I guess it's not like I care all that much. Maybe I should just resign myself and skip all the tiring useless fighting."

"You say your thoughts out loud often, don't you?" Kaoru noted.

"Sometimes, all the time, not really." The girl shrugged.

"Do you mind telling us your side of the story as to how you ended up here?" Kyoya inquired impatiently.

"Sure, why not. After all, you'd probably just keep pestering me until I told you anyways." The girl seated herself onto a nearby couch. "This is how it happened..."


	3. Has Too Much Trouble

_Peyton glanced around the intersection, waiting for the red hand of the crosswalk to change to the white walking person like everyone else. School had just ended and she now had about three and a half hours to do whatever she wanted before anyone would notice that she was gone._

_Merging with the crowd, the raven crossed the street and started to cut across the park. She took her time to stroll through, enjoying the small bit of peace and silence it brought her. As the pink eyed girl’s gaze drifted across the different aspects of the public grounds and the people moving through, she spotted one woman looking about frantically._

_‘Probably just lost sight of her kid,’ Peyton observed._

_She shrugged and kept going her way. It’s not that she was a bad person, but to even ask what was wrong could end up getting her in a lot of trouble. Still…The black-haired girl glanced once more at the woman subtly as she neared._

_“ **Ano...Excuse me** ,” the woman called out hesitantly to a group of young Japanese teenagers. “ **Could you please help me for a moment?** ”_

_‘Ah. So that’s it,’ the raven teen nodded to herself. ‘She doesn’t speak English very well and no one is willing to spare her a moment. But it’s still none of my business and, therefore, not my problem. Case closed.’_

_Peyton walked by and kept on going with full intentions of going to a local cafe before heading home for the day. However, the farther away she got from the woman, the more it felt like one weight after another was steadily being lowered onto her chest and legs. Before she could even make it completely to the other side, the pinked eyed young woman sighed and spun on her heel, heading back the way she came with quick steps._

_“Hey,” the raven girl called out. “Do you happen to know any English, ‘cause my Japanese is non existent at best.”_

_“Ah! Yes!” The foreign woman responded enthusiastically. “I do speak some, but does this mean you’ll help me?” A (dangerously in the younger girl’s mind) hopeful smile spread across her face._

_The younger raven shrugged. “As long as it’s something like asking for directions. Otherwise, I can point you to the closest place that will allow you to make a local call.”_

_“Well, I was looking for the main shopping district. I wanted to look for a souvenir or gift for my family and then I was going to meet my fiance there later, but I lost my way,” the older woman explained. “Even when I tried asking in this country’s native tongue, no one would even look my way. Oh! By the way, my name is Fuyumi Ootori. It’s nice to meet you.”_

_“Er, I’m Peyton. Look you just need to cross the street over there,” the raven pointed. “If you walk past the first building on the corner, you’ll be in the middle of the shopping area.”_

_“Thank you very much!” The older woman said graciously, taking the younger girl’s hands into her own. Her smile turned up a few notches and gained a notable sense of attachment to the younger female. “Please let me make it up to you!”_

_Peyton extracted her hands and held them up to stop the woman. “Look Miss Ootori-”_

_“Call me Fuyumi!”_

_“Er. Right. Miss Fuyumi,” the younger raven adjusted. “It wasn’t that big of a deal and I was already heading toward my favorite cafe and all.”_

_“Oh, may I come along?” The Japanese woman inquired, completely missing the obvious fact that the other girl wanted to be left alone. “I’ll treat you.”_

_Peyton sighed. “Look, it’s fine I tell you. Didn’t you say you had something to do and someone to meet up with in the shopping district?”_

_“Well, I wanted to find something to bring back for my little brother, but I still have a few hours before Shido arrives,” the woman explained._

_“You really are a suspicious lady.” The younger female sighed again and glanced down at her watch. “I suppose I can spare a couple of hours if it’ll ease your mind enough to leave me alone. But if you try anything, I’ll call the cops and ditch you, got that crazy foreign lady.”_

_Fuyumi smiled brightly and immediately started dragging the young American teen away. “That’s no problem at all Peyton-chan! I’m really looking forward getting to know such an interesting girl.”_

_“This is a one time thing,” the younger raven grumbled. “I’m telling you that I don’t want to ever see you again after this.”_

_The older woman giggled. “Oh Peyton-chan, you really are so silly and adorable.”_

_“It’s not adorable, it’s unsociable.”_

_“Let’s go try on some dresses in that shop!”_

_“Are you deaf as well as crazy?” But the poor teen’s comments went unnoticed._

_The next day Peyton was ambushed on her way home and once again dragged around by the strange older woman. The foreigner found the other girl silly and ‘cute’ even though Peyton was blatantly insulting her at different points. Fuyumi didn’t even care the the younger girl had just started to refer to her as the ‘crazy lady’ instead of her name. When asked, the Japanese woman would say that it was Peyton’s way of showing affection and she found it adorable how she tried to hide it behind mean sounding words. Peyton just thought the lady was as much of an idiot as she was insane._

xXx

“After that she barged into my home found my living conditions to be unsuitable and dragged me to Japan with her after forcing my parent to sign away adoption papers,” The raven ended abruptly.

“There seems to be a lot of details missing,” Haruhi commented.

“Yeah, I was fine with telling you guys everything, because it didn’t really make a difference to me,” Peyton drawled out. “But then I remembered that the majority of you guys would make a big racket out of it, not to mention scary glasses man is related to the crazy lady, so then I decided to just stick to the general story.”

Kyoya sighed. He knew that his sister could be rather...energetic and impulsive, but to bring home another person? That being said...“How on earth did you convince my father to adopt you?”

The raven haired female deadpanned. “I didn’t. In fact, I told the scary mister that the crazy lady was delusional and wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“Then how did Fuyumi convince father?” The Shadow King reiterated.

“Well, she told him I was smarter than your average bear,” Peyton replied offhandedly, studying her nails.

Kyoya sighed. This girl’s roundabout and sarcastic answers were wearing him down.

“So then,” Haruhi said slowly. “Does that mean...you’re a genius?”

“Well, that’s one way to put is I supposed,” the other young woman mused. “I suppose having a high IQ would land me with that title. Though, I don’t think three little numbers could mean that much, but it seems that I’m the only one here with that opinion.”

“That’s how you picked up Japanese so quickly, right Ten-chan?” Honey confirmed.

Peyton nodded. “Being smart allows me to pick up small things like that. As long as people remember that this only applies the the mental strength attributed to this so called genius stuff, then that’s fine.”

“What do you mean?” Kaoru tried to clarify, not completely understanding what she meant.

“Let me just give you an example. Take those two,” Peyton pointed to the two third years. “If they showed me the majority of their stances and I watched them spar a couple of times, I would be able to figure out a way to defeat them. However, this is null and void for someone like me who doesn’t have the physical capability to fight. Even if I know what stances and defense forms to outmaneuver them, since my body can’t move the way my mind comes up with, I really still can’t fight back at all. That’s why I really don’t consider myself a genius. To me, a genius is someone who’s well rounded enough where mind and body can work as one unit to do things the average human cannot. Being smart alone can be useless.”

“You sound like you speak from experience,” Mori stated, speaking for the first time in front of the new girl- and a full sentence at that.

Peyton paused for a moment. “Hm. I suppose one could say that.”

Kaoru shifted uncomfortably, not liking the tension in the air. It was clear that his brother felt the same, but was also struggling with a change of topic. “So...How smart are you exactly?”

The raven woman blinked and glanced up. “Well, do you have a chess board?”

“Sure!” Honey chirped, running out of the room and coming back with the selected game. He set out the pieces in front of the girl and pulled out a chair.

“So who’s game?” Peyton yawned. “Challenger can be white, I don’t really care.”

“I shall take you on!” Tamaki declared, striking a pose. He sat down and moved his pawn.

“Checkmate in seven.”

Tamaki and the others blinked. “What?”

“Checkmate in seven,” the girl repeated, moving her own piece. “In seven more of your moves, I’ll checkmate your king.”

“You’re just guessing,” Hikaru reasoned more than accused.

The pink eyed girl shrugged. “I guess you’ll just have to wait and see.”

But true enough, after the blond leader made his seventh move, the American born teen moved her bishop for checkmate.

“Wow,” Haruhi and the twins muttered.

“You want a round, scary glasses man?” Peyton asked, almost as if she was challenging him lightly.

The Shadow King thought before a moment before grinning and taking his friend’s place. “Why don’t you take the first move,” he offered graciously after the board had been reset.

The young woman shrugged and turned the board around, making her first move. “It won’t throw my calculations off just to make me go first. Let’s see if you can outdo the scary mister.”

The bespeckled teen’s eyebrows shot up. “You challenged father?” He set his pawn ahead to make room for his bishop to move.

“No, the scary mister challenged me.” The knight was given reigns to move.

“And tell me,” Kyoya made his next move, “how did he do?”

“Better than most I suppose.” She adjusted the placement of her rook, to which Kyoya responded in kind. Her eyes skittered across the board as her mind roamed the possibilities before she made another move.

Another knight was set into motion. “Forgive me, I meant to ask how many moves he survived.”

“Well, let’s see.” Peyton moved another piece and waited until the other teen made his move in return. “You are on your fifth turn, correct?”

“That would be so.” _Tap_.

“Hm. Well, it took me six of the scary man’s turns before I could come up with number of remaining moves until checkmate.” _Tap_.

 _Tap_. “And how many turns did it take after that?”

“Four until check.” _Tap_. “But twelve until checkmate.”

“Was that all?” _Tap_.

“No.” _Tap_. “He changed his tactics slightly, so it took me eleven to checkmate.”

The Shadow King paused. “He made you finish early?”

“Iie.” Peyton waved the accusation away. “It was actually a lot more difficult when he switched up his game plan. It would be considered quite a feat not to self destruct under the conditions.”

Kyoya placed his piece down. “That’s good then. But that means it took a total of twenty one moves to defeat him.”

“Uh huh. By the way, seven until check and ten until checkmate. That twenty five moves, but I doubt you would just let the game go with just that would you?”

Only the glare of the male’s glasses and a smirk was given in response.

Peyton sighed. “Just when I lost interest too.”

Kyoya placed his next piece down. “Six. But I shall add in my own prediction of check in four with a final checkmate in eighteen.”

Peyton raised an eyebrow the slightest bit. “We’ll see.”

“What lovely competition between newly formed sibling!” _Rrrrrrrrr_. The ground shook as a platform appeared from the ground. “A possible rivalry leading to forbidden love?”

“...I’m beginning to think that all Japanese are insane,” the raven girl deadpanned.


	4. Has Difficulties Divulged

Peyton’s deadpan gaze at the girl ranting and raving absolute nonsense went totally unnoticed by the newly arrived female, though the other hosts couldn’t help but sweat drop in sympathy. Not too many people could handle Renge’s outlandish behavior on their first go with the girl.

“Well, I’m out.” Peyton spun on her heel with full intentions of deserting the group.

“Wait! We haven’t been formally introduced yet!” The bow adorned girl shouted out and pulled the other girl back. “I’m Houshakuji Renge, the host club’s manager!”

“I’m leaving,” Peyton stated bluntly.

“How rude! And I was going to make a doushinji featuring your growing forbidden love with your new sibling, Kyoya!” The French otaku huffed indignantly.

“I believe in common etiquette, it is more rude of you to assume a relationship of those sorts would actually occur,” Peyton responded lazily. “Perhaps it’s the French part of you and the idiot blond that makes you two so over the top about affairs pertaining to any sort of relationship, be it innocent or not. Or is that too stereotypical? And in any case, it wasn’t by choice that I ended up as the scary glasses man’s sibling. I already have a sister and I don’t need any new siblings. One person can only take so much after all.”

“That’s nonsense!” Renge insisted. “It’s not assuming because love can bloom anywhere between anyone!”

“Aaand the rest of what I said went ignored. Awesome.” The raven female sighed and shook her head. “Look, I’m going back to class. Anything would be better than putting up with...whatever this is.”

The host club watched as the girl retreated while the female otaku kept spouting words about love and whatever else that came to mind. Each of them was curious about more than a few of the new things they had learned about the girl.

Kyoya sighed and looked down at his unfinished game, the pieces scattered about by Renge’s appearance. It was a shame. He had been hoping to change the outcome. He blinked and paused when a neatly folded paper star sitting on the middle of the board caught his attention. He picked it up and unfolded it carefully, smirking when he read the contents.

_Not bad. 28 moves until checkmate. Do better next time._

xXx

“Peeeeeyyytooon-chaaaaaaan~!”

“This is the part where I go find a nice rock to hide under, right?”

The pink eyed female didn’t get to take more than a step in the opposite directed before she was tackled and twirled around by the one and only Fuyumi. “Peyton-chan! Peyton-chan! Today, you and I are going shopping!”

“No need and I don’t like shopping.” The younger raven righted herself and brushed away the wrinkles formed from her attack.

“Shouldn’t you be with your fiance?” Kyoya added, walking up behind the girls along with the rest of his club members.

Fuyumi giggled. “Hello Kyoya! Today, since Shido is busy, father has given me permission to take our little imouto out shopping. Peyton-chan only had one bag when we left, so we want to make sure she has everything she needs; not only for herself, but for future events!”

“And how do you hope to accomplish that if your subject has already disappeared?” The youngest Ootori male pointed out.

“Eh?” The older sibling blinked in confusion and looked around. She gasped when she noticed the space where her adopted younger sister had filled was now empty and immediately took off. “Sorry, Kyoya! I have to go now! See you at dinner!”

The Ootori female walked quickly out of the school grounds, looking around carefully for her runaway charge. She couldn’t have gotten far, especially since the girl had a habit of not paying attention to where she was going. Fuyumi smiled when she spotted the young girl watching a couple of little girls, that were clearly related to each other, run into the park. The slightly taller, and probably older, of the two ran toward a group of other kids while the other girl slowed down and walked over to the swing set. The older raven girl smiled sadly and walked over to stand by the American born girl.

“I wonder it is about children that makes adults so foolish to think that they aren’t capable of being greedy, or selfish, or liars,” Peyton remarked. “Purity is an illusion from the very beginning.”

“That’s not true,” Fuyumi disputed quietly. “I believe that all children are innocent unless treated otherwise.”

“Not that it really matters,” the younger woman dismissed. She turned to face the other. “I give up. I don’t feel like wasting energy when you’re just going to find me and drag me around anyways.”

Fuyumi smiled and took her sister’s hand. “I’ll try to go easy on you.”

She winked and pulled the girl back over to the waiting car, taking off toward the first of her long list of boutiques. Fuyumi made sure that they bought at least one or two things from every store they visited. She really wanted to spoil this girl, and it was difficult not to when she was so adamant about not spending a dime on herself. The older Ootori female wanted to point out how selfless she was, but refrained. It wasn’t her place to bring up old wounds, especially ones where the victim isn’t capable of recognizing even the pain, let alone the entire injury and damage done.

Their shopping spree came to an end close to dinner time, not soon enough for Peyton, but too early in the older woman’s mind. Fuyumi had wanted to get Peyton’s hair done, but had settled for a trim when the younger female threatened to just walk all the way back on her own. Their trip ended with that and they left their bags to be taken care of by the servants as they headed toward the dining room, meeting up and walking with the youngest Ootori son on the way there.

“Why don’t you sit next to Kyoya?” Fuyumi offered. “I’ll sit next to Yuuichi and Akito?”

The younger blinked in confusion. “Who?”

“Ah, that’s right. You haven’t met them yet since they both had things to attend to yesterday.” The older woman chuckled a little nervously and turned to greet her two other brothers when they walked in. “Peyton-chan, this is your other older brothers, Yuuichi and Akito.”

The eldest son nodded to the new child. “Akito and I heard about you from father. Welcome to the family.”

“‘Sup stiffs and hidden hot head,” the young woman saluted.

The middle of the three boys scoffed slightly. “It seems that he wasn’t joking about your demeanor.”

“Hey, no one told me I had to play nice with the people who dragged me here against my will,” Peyton shrugged. “Someone capable of even the basic amount of common sense would be able to tell that much.”

Kyoya smirked internally. Her attitude could become frustrating at times, but when it was turned against his family, it was mildly amusing.

The forming spat was placed aside when the Ootori patriarch walked in and took his seat at the head of the table. He glanced up for a moment and turned toward his youngest son. “Kyoya, sit beside me and Peyton will take the seat next to you with Fuyumi on her other side.”

“As you wish,” the youngest male obliged.

However, Peyton took her seat with a little less grace. She swallowed subtly as a sense of unease started to set in, her heart rate skyrocketing when her meal was placed before her. She stared at the contents seated on her plate, trying to figure out what they wanted from her.

Fuyumi placed a gentle hand on the girl’s shoulder and offered a calming smile. “You don’t have to finish it, just eat your fill. No one is going to judge you.” This last part was a lie, but she needed to try to get the young girl to work on trusting them.

Peyton wasn’t fooled by this, but she nodded slowly and reached for her utensils, fully aware that she was being observed carefully. “Then, thank you for the food I suppose.”

The meal was quiet and it was quite clear that the newest addition of the family wasn’t accustomed to eating in front of or with other people, nor of the rich food the Ootori family ate on a regular basis. The poor girl only managed to eat a third of her meal, finishing before the others, but resigned to stay until Yoshiro had finished and left.

Fuyumi bid the two eldest brothers goodbye before tugging her younger siblings out toward Kyoya’s room, claiming that they had to talk.

Peyton sighed and laced her fingers behind her head. “What a bothersome ordeal. And here I was hoping to avoid eating meals with you people.”

Kyoya turned his gaze toward the younger woman and studied her a bit before speaking. “For someone of such a blase attitude, I figured you would eat quite a bit and not care who was watching.”

The pink eyed girl’s eyes flashed over to look at the boy from the corner of her eyes. “You would thinks so huh? But that isn’t case, as you’ve seen.”

Fuyumi sighed. “Peyton-chan, I think it would be a good idea to explain some things so that he understands a little better, especially if something were to happen and I wasn’t around.”

“How pretentious,” the youngest raven remarked. “Your presence does nothing. I’ve been on my own for sixteen years already and I’ve taken care of myself just fine.”

The older woman smiled complacently. “I know. I meant just in case. Besides, it wouldn’t hurt, right?”

Peyton stared at the other woman before finally turning her gaze away. “I don’t care. It’s not like it changes anything anyways.”

“Excuse me young master and mistress,” a butler interrupted with a bow. “Ootori-sama has requested the company of Peyton-sama.”

“This sounds troublesome and possibly dangerous, so tell the scary mister that I died,” Peyton told the middle aged man.

The servant bowed slightly. “My apologies young miss, but I must insist.”

The youngest raven huffed. “Right, right. Lead the way, I don’t feel like dealing with what could potentially become even more inconvenient. I’ll meet you two at Kyoya’s room so that you don’t do anything even more bothersome.”

“Ano...Alright...” Fuyumi trailed off uncertainly. She didn’t want to leave the younger girl alone with their father, but there wasn’t anything she could do. Going against his request would only land more trouble on all of them, and it was clear that her younger sister could see this as well.

Kyoya grimaced, also displeased with the proceedings. What could their father want with the girl? He doubted it was something as simple as a rematch. But then what could it be?

xXx

“Tell me again...Why am I here?”

“Because darling princess! As the new sister of our dear Kyoya, you should get the chance to experience his work and relations!” Tamaki declared dramatically. “It must be such a wonderful chance for you to see your wonderful nii-san in the spotlight, adored by his fans across our school. Or, perhaps you are jealous because you want to hoard all your nii-san’s time to yourself?”

Peyton deadpanned. “Who would be jealous of someone who has to deal with idiots like you all day?” She watched unconcernedly as the so called ‘princely type’ flew off to a corner in woe.

“As entertaining as that is,” Kyoya butted in with a meaningful smile, “please refrain from damaging Tamaki’s ego during club hours. It’s bad for business if he can’t play his role correctly.”

“Eh? I thought his role was that of the idiot blond?” The raven haired girl stated blankly. “You mean there are people actually stupid enough to look up to him?”

Haruhi sweat dropped when mushrooms started to cultivate.

“Do you hear that M’lord?” Kaoru teased.

Hikaru chuckled. “Yeah, it appears that you aren’t as appealing as you think. So Peyton...”

“Does this mean you have a different preference?” The twins asked together.

“I think I’m, ahhh, what was that word again,” Peyton tilted her head to the side and tapped her temple in thought. “Oh yeah, asexual. So I don’t have a preference.”

“Surely that can’t be all,” Tweedle-dee insisted with an enticing murmur, leaning in close.

“How about a brotherly love setting?” Hikaru asked. “A pretty thing like you must have all types trying to get your attention.”

“Hikaru, how can you say that about another person?” Kaoru accused, pulling his hands in with one over his mouth.

“Kaoru, you know I could never feel anything about anyone but you!” Tweedle-dum immediately replied.

Peyton watched the scene before her emotionlessly.

“Maybe you’re the lolita type!” Honey jumped in with a cute smile. “Or maybe the tall and silent type!”

“Oi, not so innocent one, how can you be a lolita if you’re older than me?” The raven questioned. “And if I was going to sit with someone who won’t hold a decent conversation, then I would be better off with a book, at least then I would be semi engaged.”

“No matter,” the Shadow King interrupted. “You won’t have to force yourself to sit with anyone. I just need you to stay within my sight so that I can look after you.”

“You people make it sound like I’m going to blow something else,” Peyton muttered. “All I want to do is hijack a plane so that I can go back to America.”

The host club members sweat dropped.

The pink eyed girl sighed. “Whatever. I’ll just sit with Haruhi since she’s the most normal person out of all of you.”

“Do you want some cake while you’re waiting for club to end?” Mitsukuni offered.

“I don’t like sweet things,” Peyton rejected with a bored tone.

“You should eat something since you barely had anything for lunch,” Kyoya told the girl. “It isn’t healthy to eat so little.”

“I’ve never eaten a lot in the first place,” the younger raven dismissed. She rolled her eyes lightly when her ‘brother’s’ gaze refused to lighten up and accepted a cup of milk tea. She held it up to the teen. “Is this good enough?”

“...For now.” Kyoya turned to head over to his station. “Do not think this issue is over.”

Peyton sighed. “Bothersome.”


End file.
